Sunday, October 17, 2010

Testing the Outer Limits...

of Patience and Devotion...

I'm happy to report that all quills have been removed. 
Greta didn't appreciate our ministrations.
It took a hefty effort. 
We had the motivation of avoiding a monstrous vet bill on our side, though.

Unfortunately...
Shachah has some quills too. 
Darkness fell before we could deal with him, though.
We'll check him out in the morning.
He will probably need a vet visit, as Clancy and I are both sure we couldn't hold him down like we do Grubby.

7 comments:

Spinners End Farm said...

Oh no! I'll be grateful that our dogs just roll in the neighbors fish gut pile from now on.... How painful that looks.

Tammy said...

Good grief--what a mess! And if I understand correctly this is a somewhat regular occurance? I can't even imagine having to extract all those quills. Hopefully Shachah won't have too many. I'm sure thankful we don't have porcupines here--I'm sure Boone would never learn 'his lesson' regarding them, as so far he hasn't learned regarding the skunks.
Tammy

Sabrina Wille Erickson said...

Our dogs love to roll in the dead fish that wash up when the ice goes out. Its one of nature's worst smells, isn't it?

I'm sure the quills hurt, but Greta gets into almost 10 porcupines a year: confirmation that she is not a very bright bulb. We used to take her to the vet. But it became clear that she had turned into an anesthesia? junkie. She would get into a porcupine the minute she recovered and go hop into the truck for her trip to the place where all the sweet nurses felt sorry for her. Three in a row like that and we decided to do it ourselves. We have to suffer, she might as well too. Sounds harsh, but it usually only takes a half hour to pull her quills. And I gave up feeling sorry for her a long time ago.

Michelle said...

Wow, that dog is either seriously short of neurons or nerve endings - or both! Somehow I have managed to avoid the experience of having one of my dogs tangle with a skunk OR a porcupine, probably because most of our dogs have stayed inside at night.

Sabrina Wille Erickson said...

Or maybe your dogs are just smart, Michelle.

We live in the middle of deep forest, so they are everywhere. Our dogs usually get into them in the daytime. The porcupines are especially bad in spring. They go right into the electronet with the sheep to get the mineral mix. I can look out the window at midday and see one waddling across the yard. Occasionally I have the opportunity to shoot them before the dogs get them.

The pine marten does kill them around here. But not enough, in my opinion. lol

Karen said...

Unfortunate, but incredible. I have never seen anything like it before. We don't have porcupines here in flat, open, farm country. Poor Greta, 10 porcupines a year? What a picture! In spite of the porcupines, I'd much rather live where you do!

Nancy K. said...

Good LORD! I've never seen anything like that. And she's a repeat offender? That dog must be masochistic...

Maybe you should just leave them in?

;-)

(kidding!)